Archive for March 15th, 2007

Don’t you just love to see a man have a dream and work really hard to accomplish it? Okay, so maybe not all dreams are as epic as others, but isn’t the fact that he’s trying his damnest good enough? Even if it’s perhaps a wonky dream, it’s a dream nonetheless… which brings me to our everyday unsung hero…

Determined, he creeps into the snow covered clearing donning his fringed buckskin jacket with knives strapped to his body. He tells his story of the “old man” with the white beard- the grizzly who almost took his life. He is Troy Hurtubise, survivor of a ferocious grizzly bear attack. His dream is to create the perfect bear proof suit of armor. After many futile attempts, he wears his heart on his sleeve as he lives his story. Oh, it is sad, it is ridiculous, but most of all it is sweet and less than ordinary in the most endearing way.

He so badly wants to be somebody (haven’t we all been there?). His nature is defined by his quirky actions- shaving his face with his bowie knife, lighting his cigarette with a blow torch. His mega suit goes through many models and tests to become grizzly bear proof, such as walking through fire, numerous ramming of heavy logs at high speeds, being shot at with bows and arrows as well as 9 millimeter slugs and even running smack dab into the damn thing with a truck 18 times. I swear the poor man could literally barely walk in the suit since it weighed 147 pounds and he even had to get into it like the Duke Boys got into the General Lee.

Director Peter Lynch is a filmmaker who gets it. He combines storytelling with documentary cinematography to piece together the most lovable and outrageous true story that I have ever seen or heard. Lynch injects Troy’s story right into the veins of North America. After the screening at New Center Cinema, on March 9th, his Q&A session was well received by audience members. Everyone wanted to learn more about Troy and hear about Peter’s vision for the film.

Thank you Peter and thank you Troy for a romping good time and a sincere moment of simple pleasures.

Overall: Two opposable thumbs up- go see it! I seriously don’t care how you get there, find a way. You will laugh, you will giggle, but most of all you will feel your heart well up inside you as you remember the time that you yourself had a dream and you will smile and hope (just like I did) that someday our everyday unsung hero will get his due.

Allow me to preface this review with some caveats. 1) I’ve never reviewed a play before, and 2) my personal experience with plays is limited to the many high school auditions I went to only to be rejected every single time. I am a bad actor and probably have a bit of a chip on my shoulder towards the theatrical community in general. That said, I have done quite a bit of writing and generally know my way around a good story, and have also done some fairly extensive research in the field of dating crazy women in New York City…which brings me to our topic: Sleep Over.


Written by Maria Micheles, Directed by Kitt LaVoie, and starring the actors Jennifer Curfman, Chris Stack, and Lucy Alibar, Sleep Over really, really tried to be whip-crack smart about sexual mores and the inner struggle all we sexy young things have with balancing the need to whore ourselves out to anyone with a pulse and yet come home to the emotional nest of a lover. In other words, it’s about really immature people all dressed up in their fancy adult trappings who almost pull off the trick of making the premise seem like a reasonable one. And in yet more other words, it’s about the kind of emotionally-vapid pseudo-artistic/intellectual city dwellers I generally try to avoid by making crass jokes during dinner parties.

The basic gist of the story is that the Girlfriend told her already cheating Boyfriend that he could sleep with a pretty girl to “save the relationship”, then she freaks out after the fact (can you hear the echoes of me slapping my forehead?). The girlfriend tries to leave, then refuses to leave. The Boyfriend wants her to stay, then uses wacky reverse psychology. There is much statuesque posing filled with “meaningful” pauses. The Other Woman suddenly shows up, and improbably manages to both save the play and end up in a weird maschistic threesome with the Couple. I won’t tell you how it ends, but I will say that it leaves something to be desired (like a satisfying resolution [or at least a little nudity to wake people up]).

As an exploration of sexual morality, I’d say it pretty much flopped. It’s really pretty simple kids; you either get to be a big slut, be in a healthy monogamous relationship, or agree to some sort of swinger arrangement, but no matter what you have to CHOOSE. The Girlfriend just kind of makes you want to slap her the whole time and the Boyfriend seems to love crazy chicks almost as much as himself, resulting in you, the audience member, just really not caring at all about these two idiots. Thankfully, when the Other Woman finally shows up, she’s believeably wacky, legitimately funny, and offers up a really wonderful character that the audience can sympathize with, if not empathize. It’s unfortunate we had to sit through so much actor-y awkward-pause stage direction waiting for her to arrive.

So, here’s my advice: Men, avoid this at all costs–you don’t even get to see boobies. Crazy Women, also avoid this at all costs because it will only give you more reasons to rationalize your craziness. Sane Women, definitely go see this if you intend to break up with your cheating boyfriend and are looking for a good way to make him feel really uncomfortable for an hour before you drop the hammer.

Sane Ladies with cheatin’ bastard boyfriends, you’ll be happy to know that Sleep Over will be playing at Theater for the New City (155 1st Ave., @ 10th St.) until March 25th. Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm. Call ahead for tix at 212.254.1109.